page_title: Komako Kimura
section_title: The True New Women's Association
hierarchical_section_title: Komako Kimura / Career / The True New Women's Association
caption_attribution_description: English: Komako Kimura Practicing Acupuncture, Evening Public Ledger, 1919
context_page_description: Komako Kimura, also seen as Komaku Kimura or Komago Kimura in American newspapers, was a Japanese suffragist, actress, dancer, theater manager, and magazine editor before World War II. Her work, both literary and theatrical, shaped the women's rights and women's suffrage movement in Japan.
context_section_description: Komako Kimura created the movement entitled “The True New Women’s Association” (in Japanese Shin-shinfujinkai) in 1912 with two other women, Nishikawa Fumiko (1882-1960) and Miyazaki Mitsuko, despite their apparently disparate personalities. Together, they created a lecture series and magazine, both entitled “The New True Women” (in Japanese, Shinshinfujin). The first speech that Komako gave occurred in 1913, and was entitled “Love and Self-Realization for Women”. She aimed to circulate “The New True Woman” magazine in America, Japan, and Europe. In her first publication of the magazine, Komako described how she did not just want to change the law and give men and women equal rights on paper. Her goal was to educate women to be strong willed and thoughtful feminists who are provided with an education equal to that of men, and no longer have to refer to the men in their lives to make decisions for themselves.
  By the time she visited America in 1917, she had been working toward achieving suffrage in Japan for about five years, to no avail. There were issues about funding, government opposition, and a lack of Japanese precedent concerning the women’s rights movement that prevented Komako from making more progress.
  She was in America to gain inspiration from American women, whom she admired due to the fact that they could use their clothing and makeup to express themselves as individuals. She criticized Japanese society for forcing conformity onto women by making them take an hour to do their hair and clothes, then be unable to move unencumbered throughout the day, due to the restrictive nature of traditional Japanese clothing. During her visit, she met with the first female member of Congress, Jeanette Rankin, as well as President Woodrow Wilson. Also, she famously marched in the October 27, 1917 suffrage march in New York.
caption: Komako Kimura practicing acupuncture
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